No deductions. None. And I assume the tax applies to all income. For all taxpayers including businesses, which is the subject of this thread.
So we eliminate the deduction that mutual funds get for passing through their earnings to investors. Make no mistake, that's a deduction that they get now. See IRC 26 USC § 852, that talks about "the deduction for dividends paid", including "capital gain dividends". Mutual funds will be taxed on their earnings.
And we eliminate the IRA deduction. That's an "above the line" deduction rather than an itemized deduction, but a deduction is a deduction. We want to keep things simple. Obviously HSA, FSA, 401k deductions, and so forth also get tossed.
And income is income, no special cases there either. In the above cited 26 USC § 852 is §852(b)(6). That excludes certain sales of appreciated property from being counted as income. Of course that special treatment has to go in pursuit of simplicity and fairness. That's the exclusion that enables ETFs to spin off capital gains without them being taxed. So now we tax the ETF in-kind transactions like all other income.
Regarding the suggested tax regimen generally, Milton Friedman was more considerate of the poor. In 1962 he proposed what he called a negative income tax. The amount paid on zero income would be negative, and taxes increased (at a flat rate) as one's income increased.
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/business/23scene.html
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/negative-income-tax-explained

15% on all forms for income (wages, cap gains, rents, interest, etc.) with zero deductions. None. Give every person (including corporations) a $25,000 personal exemption. This would mean a family of four wouldn't start paying taxes until they hit $100,000. Very easy - just pay at the window.
rono

Nice. I would add a deduction (childcare credit for working parents) or stay at home credit for parents with kids under 5 years of age. If you choose to stay home, a credit. SS and Medicare deductions worked into that credit to recognize that staying at home raising kids is a job. Stay at home requirement - both the child and the parent participant in Pre-K /Adult Training offered in the same facility.
Corporations and small businesses offer a paid / government supported entry level work program for graduating parents. This offers offers full-time pay of $50K / year.
Which leads me to the question of how do we get a handle the welfare side of government programs? Can this be simplified as well?

Howdy folks,
Right now, the dems are imploding in DC proving the adage, that the democrats are stupid and the republicans are mean. Being a 3rd term elected republican, I take it further to state that most republicans are dirty old white men who are racist sexist religinazi creeps that should even be allowed in public off leash and without a handler.
As for taxes, rono rolls out his solution. 15% on all forms for income (wages, cap gains, rents, interest, etc.) with zero deductions. None. Give every person (including corporations) a $25,000 personal exemption. This would mean a family of four wouldn't start paying taxes until they hit $100,000. Very easy - just pay at the window.
and so it goes,
peace and keep wearing the damn mask,
rono

I prefer VNLA in the short duration space, though having a poor year. That being said, my general thinking is why take any risk when you can get 1% in an online account? T-Mobile money (through customers bank) is offering 1% right now, FYI.

Morgan Stanley
https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/forms/tax/2021-estimated-year-end-distributions.pdf

According to M*, HSGFX has $365.7 Mil in assets.
I wonder why investors have stuck with this dog?
This reminds me of the Steadman Fund family.
Pundits have labeled several Steadman funds as the worst of all time.
"You might wonder why anyone would even consider investing in funds operated in such a manner and with such draconian performance. The answer is that they didn’t. From 1988 until 1998 the fund did not acquire any new investors. But many current investors simply failed to sell, which enabled Steadman and his family to continue to milk the funds as a source of income for themselves. While some investors presumably stopped paying attention, a large number actually died while holding the fund. The L.A. Times stated that by 1998 fully 40% of the accounts had been legally abandoned. One can only speculate as to whether or not the funds’ performance had any hand in their demise."
Link

+1 Yes-probably any of the hundreds of competent 60/40 balanced funds !

+1.

You’d have made less than a half-percent annually had you bought the fund when it opened 21 years ago.

That is really sad. After 2% inflation, the investors are behind every year.

FWIW - HSAFX’s allocation per Lipper:
46% Stocks
41% Cash
13% Bonds
0% Other

Fido must be monitoring this board because when I went to buy BGHAX there, I noticed the 3.5% load. BGHAX is ntf at Vanguard with a 1,000 minimum so I bought it there before Vanguard changes their mind too !

Why not BGHIX? I've lived with this fund also HIXr years (including prior to the recent BrandwineGlobal affiliation), and its fantastic.

LMZIX is (pardon the redundancy) BrandywineGlobal Global High Yield, as opposed to BGHSX, BrandwineGlobal High Yield without the global in the fund name. Two different funds.
Fidelity charges nothing to sell TF funds. However, as Crash noted, BGHIX has got a $1M min at Fidelity and everywhere else I've looked. If you can spring for a $1M investment, I don't think you'll blink at a $49.95 TF when buying.
BGHAX is NTF with a low minimum at several brokerages, but not at Fidelity.
On a test trade: "A sales charge of up to 3.50% may apply."
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/52472T734

@carew388- Thx, got me to check at Schwab- NTF / $100 minimum

His allocation fund HSAFX isn't all that great, but at least it's up 7% ytd and was up 11% in 2020 (M* figures).

for this labor you get the prize, which is 1M grains of good basmati

Yes. I agree. It’s a provocatively useful question. Causes you to think a lot about potential outcomes. Appreciate the work @dstone42 put in here.

This 21 year old fund’s a former board favorite. John Hussman’s writings were often displayed and discussed. Real looser of a fund however. You’d have made less than a half-percent annually had you bought the fund when it opened 21 years ago.
I owned the fund for a year or so and sold it probably 15 years ago. But can’t stop from tracking it and hoping this seemingly gifted financial analyst and writer could somehow turn his floundering fund around. HSGFX got off to a good start this year and everything looked promising. But the fund’s been in a nose-dive now for several weeks. Today’s negative 0.49% return puts the fund into negative territory YTD.
I can sympathize with him if he thinks the markets are overvalued and has pulled back./ gotten defensive. I happen to agree with that prognosis. But, managing a fund like this is “big league” stuff. More is expected.
HSGFX
ER 1.23%
Early Redemption Fee 1.50%
Lipper Link
Chart

for this labor you get the prize, which is 1M grains of good basmati